Measurement of reaction cross section for 17C and study of its nuclear matter density distribution

The authors have measured the reaction cross section of 17C on a 12C target at 79 MeV/u using the transmission method. Together with previous data at high energy, authors deduced the density distribution of 17C by fitting the experimental data using the finite-range Glauber model. The analysis shows that a simple harmonic-oscillator (HO) density is not adequate to explain consistently the present experimental data and the one at high energy simultaneously. To get a better fit of both the data, the existence of a tail in the density distribution of 17C is proposed. Based on the assumption of a core plus a single neutron, it is found that the valence neutron of 17C is mostly in the d-orbital. This is in agreement with the conclusion from the measured momentum distribution. (authors)